LAHORE, March 1: A three-prong pace attack by Rauf Akbar, Zohaib Ahmad and Saad Altaf gave Islamabad an upper hand against Multan on the first day of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Silver League replay final at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad on Thursday.
Rauf (3-43), Rauf Akbar (3-58) and Zohaib (3-54) bowled at teasing length as Multan were restricted to 211-9 by close of day-one, despite a fighting knock by opener Saeed Anwar, who hit 71. Saeed with Usman Tariq (36) gave a firm opening stand of 132. But after Rauf had Usman caught by wicket-keeper Naeem Anjum, Saeed did not have any reliable partner as except Kamran Hussain (29 not out) no other batsmen touched double figures.
The final is being replayed after it was washed out at Gaddafi Stadium early this month due to inclement weather.
To take a certain result, the PCB domestic tournament committee had decided that in case of completion of only one innings of only one team due to weather problems, the final will be extended for six day from five. And if the first innings of the team, batting second, could not be completed, the winners will be decided on the better run-rate, comparing score of incomplete innings at that stage with the team which had batted first. If all solution failed to give the result, the winners will be decided on toss.
Scoreboard
MULTAN (1st innings):
Usman Tariq c Naeem b Rauf 36
Saeed Anwar lbw b Rauf 71
Yasir Arafat b Saad 1
Azhar Shafiq lbw b Saad 7
Bilal Khilji b Rauf 3
Kashif Naved c Naeem b Saad 4
Kamran Hussain not out 29
Atiq Ahmed c Naeem b Zohaib 2
Abdur Rauf b Zohaib Ahmed 5
Shabbir Ahmed c sub b Zohaib 8
Azharullah not out 6
EXTRAS (B-6, LB-8, NB-19,W-6) 39
TOTAL (for nine wkts, 75 overs) 211
FALL OF WKTS: 1-132, 2-133, 3-133, 4-146, 5-150, 6-161, 7-176, 8-188, 9-201.
BOWLING: Rauf Akbar 25-7-43-3; Saad Altaf 25-7-58-3; Bilal Asad 4-2-10-0; Zohaib Ahmed 12-1-54-3; Bazid Khan 4-1-11-0; Raheel Majeed 3-0-11-0; Afaq Raheem 2-0-10-0.
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